Question about whether slime mold will react with plaster or resin?

[Melody Wu]

So I've read that pouring water / spraying water at slime mold will release spores in a gas like kind of fashion which is definitely not what's wanted if you'd like to work with it and not have it spread, etc. How does slime mold (the standard Physarum polycephalum) react if I poured plaster over it for example in order to get the pattern it forms in a mold? How about art resin? There's no good way to preserve the slime mold in its full grown form right as it'll eventually dry out? I saw a couple posts about this but would like some more info / advice for an art and design project I'm doing with slime mold. Thank you! 

[ian]

Hi 

Slimes will only release spores when they've made fruiting bodies - tiny little black mushrooms. 

I've poured plaster over them a lot. They're fine about it, to make a casting mould I poured a litre of herculite on one, let it set overnight, by the morning the slime was exploring the top of the plaster.

Really high definition too. You can bake them out in lost wax (fatal of course). 

They'll crawl over clay and beeswax if you need to make a form. They eat the stearate in modeling clay - not enough to affect the clay but enough that they won't perform properly on it.

You can also oven bake them on paper - about 90C until totally dry. Might need a spritz of varnish for long term storage. Fixing them with alum on cloth and ironing them flat also works.

They'll crawl over clay, pla and beeswax if you need to make a former. They eat the stearate in modeling clay - not enough to affect the clay but enough that they won't perform properly on it.

Message me if you want to talk through ideas 

[Melody Wu]

Thank you very much! This info is super helpful. Do you think casting plaster over it will allow me to create a cast / mold of the mold itself or is the mold too delicate? 

[ian]

I pour molten metal into it! You need a hard plaster - herculite or another high alpha plaster and I add 10% fine powdered pumice for metal moulds. I just gravity cast tin alloys and the details great.